[A different version of this story originally appeared on our sister site, IndexUniverse.eu.]

FTSE is teaming up with a subsidiary of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to develop new indexes based on Chinese A-Shares, with a particular focus on alternative-weighting methodologies and socially responsible investing, the index provider said this week.

Under a new agreement, FTSE and the Shenzhen Securities Information Co. Ltd will undertake new index-related research and create specialized A-Share indexes—again on so-called intelligent beta indexing methodologies and on ESG benchmarks isolating securities that pass muster on environmental, social and governance parameters.

“China is one of the fastest growing markets and, as the A-Share market matures to be freely traded internationally, it will play a vital role both in the global capital market and in investor portfolios,” FTSE’s CEO Mark Makepeace said in a press release.

With an established data license agreement in place, the agreement signed this week builds on an existing relationship with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, FTSE said.

Shenzhen Securities Information Co. Ltd is the organization authorized by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to manage its securities information.

China A-Shares are securities from mainland China-based companies, and have been mostly off limits to foreign investment and tightly regulated by the government. But ongoing financial reforms that aim to improve foreign investment in mainland companies are slowly making A-Shares more accessible.